Woodland's 'deal ninjas' looking to score before turkey is off the table

For some, it's Thanksgiving, where people drool over turkey dinner. For others, it's Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, where people drool over retail deals.

In recent years, the lines have become blurred as more and more big retail guns open are opening their doors earlier.

Deal ninjas can score at Walmart and Sears beginning at 8 p.m. Thanksgiving, for example, while Target opens at 9 p.m. -- three hours earlier than last year.

The National Retail Federation expects this to be the busiest shopping season in years, mainly Thanksgiving night and Black Friday weekend. An estimated increase of 4.1 percent in spending to $586 billion is predicted.

Store ads have been circulating for weeks on sites like theblackfriday.com, allowing informed shoppers know which deals are where.

"This is the most optimistic forecast NRF has released since the recession," said National Retail Federation President and CEO Matthew Shay in a statement. "In spite of the uncertainties that exist in our economy and among consumers, we believe we'll see solid holiday sales growth this year."

The National Retail Federation's 2012 holiday forecast is higher than the 10-year average holiday sales increase of 3.5 percent. Last year, holiday sales grew by 5.6 percent.

Woodland's County Fair Fashion Mall on East Gibson Road will open at 6 a.m. Friday, Nov. 23. Stores like JCPenney and Burlington Coat Factory will have special deals.

"We're hoping for more traffic than normal and hopefully more than last year," said General Manager Al Aldrete. "The idea that people don't have to drive to Arden (mall) and they can do their shopping local is something we're hoping the community will embrace and they won't forget us."

The same day, County Fair Fashion Mall will begin hosting its annual "Christmas with Santa," where kids can take a photo with St. Nick, weekends through Christmas Eve.

The average holiday shopper will spend $749.51 on gifts, décor, greeting cards and more, up slightly from the $740.57 they actually spent last year, according to the National Retail Federation's holiday consumer spending survey conducted by BIGinsight.

"We've seen this pattern of cautious optimism all year and despite the challenges that still exist in our economy, it looks as if consumers are eager to celebrate with friends and family," said Shay. "As the most promotional time of the year, retailers will continue to look for ways to stand out, specifically with attractive deals on toys, electronics and apparel, even well before the 'official' start of the holiday shopping season - Black Friday and Cyber Monday."

According to the Federation's survey, the biggest portion of shoppers' budget this year will go towards gifts for family members with the average person planning to spend $421.82 on children, parents, aunt, uncles and more.

Additionally, people will spend $75.13 on friends, $23.48 on co-workers and $28.13 on others, such as pets and community members. Consumers will also spend on food and candy ($100.76), greeting cards ($28.66) and flowers ($19.55). When it comes to decorations, the average person will spend $51.99, up from $49.15 last year and the most in the survey's history.

Total spending on holiday décor will reach $6.9 billion, according to the survey.

Retailers are expected to hire between 585,000 and 625,000 seasonal workers this holiday season, which is comparable to the 607,500 seasonal employees they hired last year, according to the National Retail Federation.